Founded in 1990, Maria_livestock_Farm works throughout California, focusing on breeders, beginning and sustainable breeders, and family-scale fishers. We partner with training programs, impact investors, public agencies, and other nonprofits, weaving a supportive ecosystem for next-generation ranchers. We believe that working livestock provide valuable income and ecosystem services through regenerative ranching.

Maria_livestock_Farm is certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), one of the first in the country to focus on sustainable, organic livestock farming and economic and environmental resilience. Our strategic initiatives include:

Wealth Building We help livestock farmers with limited formal education or English proficiency to gain financial stability, including the ability to recover from short-term setbacks, the ability to save for retirement, and the ability to pass wealth on to future generations. Our aim is to tackle intergenerational poverty while developing healthy regional food systems.

Resilience and succession We help farmers acquire the knowledge and skills to develop and maintain viable livestock enterprises. We address resilience with a land, financial and business education model that enables entrepreneurs to make informed decisions about the risks inherent in farming, ranching and fishing enterprises.

Equity and conservation on working lands We use loan capital, education and networking to facilitate conservation, climate adaptation and affordable access to land on working lands under public and private ownership. Our goal is to work with conservation landowners to provide ranchers with high quality land tenure opportunities on conservation land, with priority given to ranchers of colour.

We invest in the prosperity of farmers, ranchers and fishermen whose livelihoods are the foundation of healthy regional food systems. We invite you to learn more and support this work. Thank you.